Institution DOL - Our Love Can Destroy the Whole Fucking World [TORM Ent - 2019]Austria's only active power electronics outfit, Institution DOL, is back with its newest and most crushing release, Our Love Can Destroy the Whole Fucking World. Spending three years recording and perfecting this release, Institution DOL is finally ready to unleash this album on the world. Available on both CD and LP from TORM ent, this well put together release should please all fans of grim electronics. Despite the long period in which it was being recorded, Our Love is seven coherent tracks of dark, brooding electronics. Opening with "Invocation," buzzing, oscillating electronics serve as a base for a Latin ritual, distorted church organs, and high, warbling feedback. Things drop right into bleakness on "We Are the Black Ones," with the electronics taking on a darker, lower tone. Broken glass and loose metallic jangles add an air of tension, while crispy distortion hammers home the grim atmosphere. Shouted lyrics go along with frenzied recordings and make this track a very claustrophobic piece. Shifting the focus from the beefy lows, "You Are All Lost" uses mid range crunch with high forays to add intrigue to a (comparatively) sparse track. Similarly, "Abschlachtung" keeps it loose and open, with an airy synth permeating the background. Feeling almost like a Tourette piece, the crackling electronics floating throughout the synth vapors help to expand the scope of both the song and album. Mixing the beginning grimness and the midway openness, "Absolute Hell" starts off with blistering and heavy electronics before giving way to a nice, solo piano and some more pre-recorded, god-fearing speech. Throbbing and propulsive in a very John Carpenter way, "In Dust and Death" moves the album along while mixing the previous themes. Upping the noise factor as an accent to the synthesized pulse, the penultimate track on Our Love intensifies Institution DOL's sonic message and increases the aural pressure. Rolling this into the albums eponymous and final track, Institution DOL pulls out all the stops in their assault. Heavy, crispy, and expansive, "Our Love" steamrolls forth before coming to the edge of a chasm...a chasm wide, deep, and amazingly different than the depths plumbed in earlier songs. Showing the full range of Institution DOL's ability and vision, "Our Love" moves beyond normal power electronics and shows the band's focus on constructing a true album soundscape instead of just going for the quick, easy harshness.
Three years in the making, Institution DOL's latest, Our Love Can Destroy the Whole Fucking World is a grim soundscape that opens itself to reveal the flesh of love inside. Taking a few avenues to get there, and expanding as it goes, Our Love is an engaging piece of harsh electronics. With a definite goal in mind, this album moves briskly forward, references its past, and ties it all together in a nice package. Paul Casey
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